


The Backstory On Dust (Part 1)

by pallasite



Series: Behind the Gloves [137]
Category: Babylon 5, Babylon 5 & Related Fandoms
Genre: Backstory, Canon Compliant, Crimes & Criminals, Department Sigma, Drugs, Dust (Babylon 5), Episode: s03e06 Dust to Dust, Essays, Fix-It, Gen, How canon misled you, Origins of Dust, Psi Corps, Psi Corps Secret Experiments, Sacrifice, Science Fictional Drugs, Smuggling, The Corps Was Right, The Drazi are up to no good, The Psi Corps tag is mine, The Real Telepath Resistance Was Us, Worldbuilding, illegal drugs, telepaths
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 18:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16143095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pallasite/pseuds/pallasite
Summary: A reader asked me recently: "I have a stupid question and you are the expert on B5 telepaths... So Dust... What happens if a telepath in the B5 universe takes Dust? Do they get the same high as a normal? Or not? A temp boost like when they go into hyperspace? On the flip side, if telepath is victim of Dust user...  I don't get why a telepath would be more traumatized, (permanently) as a victim of a Dust user than a normal (temporarily). Bester mentions this in Dust to Dust (god I loved him in that episode), but doesn't explain why."In this two-part essay, I answer these questions (and more)!The prologue ofBehind the Glovesishere- please read!





	The Backstory On Dust (Part 1)

**Author's Note:**

> What is this series? Where are the acknowledgements, table of contents and universe timelines? See [here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10184558/chapters/22620590).
> 
> If you like _Behind the Gloves_ and would like to send me an email, I can be reached at counterintuitive at protonmail dot com. Do you have questions? Would you like to tell me what you like about this project? Email me!
> 
> I also have an [ask blog](https://behind-the-gloves.tumblr.com/), a [writing blog](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/pallasite-writes), and a "P3 life" Tumblr [here](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/p3-life) with funny anecdotes. :)

Last September, I posted [Natasha Alexander's story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11991930/chapters/27130080), in which I broadly explained the origins and purposes of Department Sigma and Psi Corps secret projects in general, but I'd put off a more in-depth discussion about Dust specifically till later in the project.

And while I do intend to come back to this point later, when I reach that time period, that doesn't mean I also can't answer key questions and clear up key issues now.

First, and critically, I need to explain one of the chief ways that canon misleads the audience about the street drug called "Dust".

  * Did you know that Dust is mentioned several times in canon before the episode _Dust to Dust_ , and that none of these references have ANYTHING to do with either the Corps or telepaths?


  * No one - not even paranoid Garibaldi - associates Dust with telepaths, the Corps, or secret experiments. It's a well-known, illegal street drug, associated with crime and poverty.


  * No one understands why Bester would come to the station to deal with a Dust problem - what's this have to do with the Corps? People try to smuggle Dust through the station (and in general, off-world) all the time (see examples below). None of this ever has to do with the Corps or telepaths.


  * _**Just about no one in that world associates the Corps and telepaths with Dust - only fandom does**_ , because of the way the show (misleadingly) presents it. You forget every other mention of Dust in the show (before that one episode or after that episode), because That One Episode, and from then on its become "an obligatory element in any fanfic about the Corps (or telepaths in general)" and something missing from fan works that have nothing to do with the Corps or telepaths (even if they deal with poverty and crime).


  * BUT NO, EVERYONE. No one in that world thinks of these things as related - even paranoid Garibaldi, who is up to his elbows in 1) dealing with criminals and 2) bullshit conspiracy theories about the Corps being behind everything. Normals don't think this way, and telepaths don't think this way, either.


  * Most people in that world - including telepaths - have never even heard of this particular dangerous street drug.


  * And if you've heard of it, you assume its origins are no different from that of any other street drug. It's obviously made "on the street" like any other street drug.



Here are the references to Dust,  ** _that all have nothing to do with telepaths or the Corps_** , from episodes other than  _Dust to Dust_.

I don't know who said all the lines - if you have it, you can drop me a line.

The emphasis is mine.

\-----

  * Garibaldi in _Survivors_ (Season 1):



"Years ago, I worked security in the Europa ice-mining operation. A cesspool. **Murders, theft, Dust peddling.** Half the Command was in on it. The other half didn't care. Except for me. Ever try to uphold the law when nobody cares?"

**_(The events here took place in the early 2140s - Dust has been around as a dangerous illegal street drug for a long time.)_ **

  * Some characters in _Hunter, Prey_ (Season 2):



"Won't you be recognized?"

"I don't get into Downbelow a lot. When I do, they don't see me, they see the badge. And I have an excellent disguise. Let's go."

"Why is my life suddenly passing in front of my eyes?"

"You don't belong here. Your clothes say money."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my way."

" **What is it? Dust? Guns? You buying or selling?** Or running away? That it? Is somebody chasing you?"

  * Franklin in _Exogenesis_ (Season 3):



"Computer, begin recording. Deceased is a human male, age 35, identified as having lived in Downbelow since June of 2258. **Toxicology scans indicate the subject used a variety of controlled substances: traces of Dust, morphozine and others** , but not in sufficient quantities to cause death. No overt signs of physical trauma. Scanners indicate heart, lungs and other internal organs are all in fair condition."

  * Some characters in _The Illusion of Truth_ (Season 4):



"Scanners turned up something suspicious in those crates. We went to take a look, and they got in our way."

"Explosives?"

"The scanners say no. **It could be weapons, contraband, Dust.** "

"Well, then, let's open them up."

  * Some characters in _Racing Mars_ (Season 4):



"Please advise Commander Ivanova we have the cargo she wanted."

"Confirmed, shuttle. We'll have Security standing by."

"I realize in the past that we've had our little ups and downs. **I mean, some of you have tried to smuggle in Dust, weapons, other items on our prohibited list** , and we've had to come down on you. That's our job. Most days, nobody gets hurt."

  * Security in _Conflicts of Interest_ (Season 4):



"Computer, status report."

"Transferring updated security data to main post. Summary: Four arrests in Brown 3. **One customs infraction: Possession of Dust.** One unauthorized entry recorded."

  * And this gem of a conversation from _The Ragged Edge_ (Season 5) linking Dust with **_THE DRAZI GOVERNMENT_** :



"That's where it gets dicey."

"It was a human transport. We think he may have been smuggling illegal goods into Drazi Space, on orders from their government."

"That's great."

"Wait a minute, the Drazi government? What kind of illegal goods?"

" **Every race that joins the Alliance agrees to boycott items on the prohibited list. Dust.** Certain other drugs used to control and violate people. An assortment of really nasty biological weapons. That sort of thing. Officially, they agree to keep the stuff out. Unofficially, they buy and sell it all the time. They use it to control colonies, trade for resources. They subcontract with smugglers to bring the stuff in. If anything goes wrong, the government can deny any knowledge."

"Which means we can forget about any cooperation from the Drazi government."

\-----

What's odd is actually that Bester showed up to deal with that one specific Dust dealer out of **_all the hundreds, if not thousands, of others who are smuggling the stuff off-world or trying to do so._** I mean, the whole Drazi government is in on it, and that's _**WAAAAY**_ the hell out of the Corps' jurisdiction. ^_^

It's also odd that that one line in _Dust to Dust_ that the Corps was involved with the development of the drug (I'll get to that later) is what fans remember, when they don't remember **ALL OF THE ABOVE** , even though half of that was said on screen after _Dust to Dust_ , including the link to the Drazi government.

If you just want to pick a street drug, there are others - even other drugs used to "control and violate people" (Dust is actually a really poor choice for that, because you can't scan someone very well when you're hallucinating and violent... these aren't reliable scans _at all_ ). There are also other drugs, see above, that are designed for alien biology (Dust is not).

Yet somehow when Dust comes up in fanfic (or LARP or whatever), the Corps/human telepaths/rogue telepaths are involved in the story, and not THE DRAZI GOVERNMENT. Yes, Dust's development (a generation or even more earlier) does involve the Corps - and I will explain that - but at the time of the show, the genie is long out of the bottle. Dust has become an entirely different sort of issue, one that doesn't have to do with the Corps, or with rogue telepaths. (Look at those examples! None have to do with rogue telepaths! None!)

 ** _The Corps doesn't have jurisdiction in Dust cases_** \- which is why everyone was so surprised when Bester shows up. As you see above, this is a mundane law enforcement issue. The Corps has no jurisdiction unless a telepath is the perpetrator of a crime, or the victim of a crime. Normals who sell Dust, or who get high on Dust, are not under Corps jurisdiction.

I think there's some kind of phenomenon going on that once the Corps is mentioned, fandom connects everything to it and ignores everything else - even more so when Bester personally shows up, because then not only is everything mentioned linked to the Corps, it's also all linked to him _personally_ (no matter how absurd this is).

It's like how I can go to con dressed in bright solid purple or red, very femininely with make-up and jewelry, no PPG, and people ask if I'm a Psi Cop - or even on occasion if I'm "cosplaying" Bester _himself_.

No, I'm not him. I'm me. I'm a _different_ telepath. I'm a girl.

(This is an example of what someone I knew online referred to as "fandumb.")

And Dust is not a "telepath issue," either.


End file.
